re: 2015 Recruiting Discussion

someone posted on 247 that Looch said Texas.

Well frick

Tomorrow is either going to be epicly incredible or epicly shitty

When do EEs sign?

Nevermind. Read that wrong

So yea, since it's looking like tomorrow is going to suck, can we please contain our melts to either TA or 247?

He gone

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I'll cut right to the chase. This isn't a rose-colored update by any stretch of the imagination.

This thing has been trending away from A&M for about a week now - as soon as Jefferson began to believe he wouldn't know the answer on the DC hire in time for his self-imposed Friday deadline. Brice has been all over the momentum swing from the start but has maintained all along that he felt A&M wins out despite admitting that he felt the Ags were losing ground and a real threat to lose him due to the lack of a sitting coordinator.

Well, right up until about 8 p.m. tonight, we were both feeling (as were our A&M sources) that things were moving south on A&M in a hurry after Jefferson got no information from Sumlin on Wednesday night about Mark Snyder's potential replacement (as Brice reported this morning). That combined with the fact that it's been well-documented that his parents and family favored the Burnt Orange is why I'm confident the Aggies are fighting an uphill battle tonight. As I said this morning, I think Texas represents the 'compromise' decision for Malik, who would probably rather be at A&M or UCLA but could very well end up playing ball (and being an excellent player, mind you) in Austin.

Sumlin was scheduled to talk to Jefferson tonight and could change the course of momentum completely if he has a DC name or two to throw at the five-star linebacker but I just don't think the head coach is prepared to do that (more on that in my Thursday night DC update).

Two things: I can't fault Jefferson at all for having an incredibly difficult time committing to a school without having so much as a clue as to who will be coaching him and, whether he turns out to be an All-American or journeyman linebacker, the Aggies missed out on this one solely because the defensive coordinator search wasn't wrapped up in three weeks' time. Whether you're a firm believer that the hire is more important than any one recruit or not, that is an indisputable fact. However, the one thing that has me confused and has had me confused throughout the past week is why Jefferson was so unwilling ot come off of his commitment date. If A&M were truly where he wanted to be, then why hold Sumlin to such a hard timeline? Couldn't the Aggie head coach have said something along the lines of, "Listen Malik, we've been in this together for two years. Give me until Tuesday. If I don't have anything by then, I'll help you choose between the Longhorns and Bruins." I actually believe Sumlin did ask that question of his prized prospect at some point during their conversation last night. Neither of those scholarships were going anywhere and Jefferson doesn't have to actually decide until he's set to enroll in mid-January.

He also isn't bound by anything until he enrolls in classes, which is why - regardless of where he commits tomorrow - things could change dramatically if he falls in love with the Ags' eventual hire or if Texas DC Vance Bedford ends up landing the Colorado State job that he is currently actively pursuing (more confusion).

Stay tuned because anything can happen if Sumlin were to either offer up a name if he's able to get Jefferson on the phone tonight or if something in that conversation really registers with a kid who spent the last month or two believing he would be playing for Kevin Sumlin at Texas A&M.

It goes without saying that this would be a very significant (and very rare, mind you) head-to-head loss with Charlie Strong and the Longhorns but let's hold off on that discussion until after Malik announces his decision and see what the top-5 talent actually says.

-Our Thursday on Jefferson's teammate Deandre McNeal? It's sounding like the Ags not having a wide receivers coach is coming into play this time around, with his decision coming down to UCLA and Texas.

-According to Brice, Kendall Bussey's father told him this evening that the New Orleans Isidore Newman tailback was 50/50 between the Aggies and Tennessee Vols were going back and forth. It's been well-documented that Bussey's slight preference was to play in Knoxville but his dad was pushing the Maroon & White so that one could truly go either way.

-Better news on the Kirk Merritt front, where both Terry Joseph and Jake Spavital spoke to the blue-chip receiver tonight and that the Destrehan (LA) product still has the Aggies and Oregon at the very top of his list.

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Yep he's laying it all at the hands of Sumlin not finding a defensive coordinator. He also made a pretty good point that if that is true, then it's strange that Malik wouldn't give us a little more time.

Also, it's a bit confusing since the Texas DC is wanting to leave for a head coaching job and is pretty aggressively pursuing it.

Last thing he pointed out was that Sumlin was slated to have a phone call with Jefferson after all of these updates, and that call could sway the balance of things. If Sumlin had an update on the DC search (unlikely, according to Liucci), it might make an easy decision for Malik

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He also made a pretty good point that if that is true, then it's strange that Malik wouldn't give us a little more time.

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I think the issue isn't that we don't have one in place, I think the issue is that when the Jefferson family asked him questions about it, he didn't give them a sufficient answer